“I don’t know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and more,” Eminem says of his addiction to prescription medications in a clip from the documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs. Having brushed aside accusations that he had a drug problem on the grounds that he wasn’t shooting heroin or smoking crack, the rapper fell dangerously deep into a substance habit that included Vicodin, Valium, and Xanax.

Eventually, the medications landed Eminem in the hospital, with a recovery that entailed relearning motor and speech skills. “Had I got to the hospital about two hours later, I would have died,” he says. “My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything. . . . They didn’t think I was going to make it. My bottom was going to be death.”

Eminem soon relapsed, but eventually did manage to kick the addiction. His harrowing revelations form just one small piece of director Matthew Cooke’s wide-ranging documentary on the drug trade and its participants. The film, which was co-produced by Entourage‘s Adrian Grenierand also features interviews with 50 Cent, Woody Harrelson, Freeway Rick Ross, and The Wire‘s David Simon, opened in theaters this week.